| End of each Week | 1st | 2d | 3d | 4th | 5th | 6th Rate. | Total. | |
| December | 22 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 66 | 87 |
| " | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 150 | 156 |
| January | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 119 | 134 |
| " | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 150 | 161 |
| " | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 55 | 65 |
| " | 26 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 78 | 91 |
| February | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 191 | 209 |
| " | 9 | 3 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 15 | 140 | 175 |
| " | 16 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 12 | 65 | 86 |
| " | 23 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 278 | 292 |
| March | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 126 | 139 |
| " | 8 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 39 | 58 |
| " | 15 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 210 | 221 |
| Total | 8 | 10 | 35 | 65 | 89 | 1667 | 1874 | |
The good effect which, as before mentioned, was produced upon the morals of the town by this succession of dangers does not seem to have been of permanent value if we may credit a writer in the Bedford Pa. Gazette, in the year 1814, who makes himself very merry over what he is pleased to term the “devout paroxisms” of the good citizens of this place, as will appear by the following communication.
He says: “At Louisville, in the State of Kentucky, a town about four times as large as Bedford, they have no church. When the earthquake gave them the first shock, they grew very devout in one night; and on the next day with long faces, they subscribed a thousand dollars to build a house of public worship. Thus the matter rested until the second shock came, when another devout paroxism produced another thousand dollars. It rested again till a third earthquake and devout fit produced another subscription to the same amount. There was no more of the matter. The earthquake did not return, and the Louisvillians concluded the devil would not send for them for a few years more, and in the mean time determined to be merry. They immediately built a theater, which cost them seven thousand dollars, and employed a company of actors, the offscourings of maratime city theaters. To this company they gave about five hundred dollars per week, till at length the actors, instead of raising the curtain, broke through it and broke each other’s heads with sticks, and the heads of some of the auditors who interfered. The earthquakes have lately begun to shake Louisville again, but whether they laugh or pray I have not heard.”
The Western Courier, published at Louisville, copies this article, with some stringent remarks upon its contents; and attributes the authorship of it to some actor whose efforts in his profession had not been duly honored by the people whom he villifies. Who is in the right in this matter it is now impossible to say; but it is certain that the author of the article in question is guilty of an anachronism, for it will be remembered that the theater was built previous to the commencement of the earthquakes. It is, however, unquestionably true that the theater was built several years before a church edifice of any kind was attempted.
The newspaper from which this article was copied was commenced here in October or November of 1810, by Nicholas Clarke. It was published weekly at three dollars per annum, and contained for the most part little else than news of the wars, acts of Assembly and of Congress, and advertisements. In 1814, Mann Butler joined Mr. Clarke in the editorship of the paper, but did not continue long in his chair. The Louisville Correspondent was issued at about the same time, and edited by Col. E. C. Barry. It was discontinued in 1817. It is believed that there are no files of it in existence now.
Reference to all the early files of newspapers published at this day, will show how gradual and yet how certain was the progress of steamboat navigation on the Ohio. The arrival of every boat was carefully noted and always accompanied with a great flourish of trumpets and a renewed eulogy on the wonders of the new invention. Much credit is due to Capt. H. M. Shreve, lately of St. Louis, for his indefatigable and successful endeavors to improve as well as to enlarge this prominent branch of commerce. As is well known, Fulton and Livingston held a patent for the entire right to navigate all the rivers in the United Stages for a certain number of years. But Mr. Shreve, seeing the injustice of this grant and doubting its legality, openly defied it; and finally, after much effort and not a little pecuniary loss, succeeded in 1816 in removing the grant and throwing open the navigation of the public highways to all. It will not be uninteresting to the reader, while upon this fruitful topic, to glance at a list of all the steamboats employed upon the western waters until 1819. This list is copied from Dr. McMurtrie, whose data is not always implicitly reliable. It has however been corrected as far as was practicable at this remote period. The present tense, whenever employed, is meant to refer to the year 1819.
STEAMBOATS EMPLOYED ON THE WESTERN WATERS FROM 1812 TO 1819.
1st. The Orleans—the first boat built at Pittsburg, owned by and constructed under the superintendence of Mr. Fulton. Sailed from Pittsburg in October, 1811, and arrived at her destination, Natchez, about the 1st January, 1812. She ran between New Orleans and Natchez about two years, making her voyages to average seventeen days; was wrecked near Baton Rouge, where she sunk on the upward bound passage; 400 tons burthen.
2d. The Comet—owned by Samuel Smith; built at Pittsburg by Daniel French; stern-wheel and vibrating cylinder; on French’s patent granted in 1809. The Comet made a voyage to Louisville in the summer of 1813; and descended to New Orleans in the Spring of 1814; made two voyages to Natchez, and was sold; the engine put up in a cotton gin; 45 tons burthen.